SINGAPORE — Singapore will close schools and most workplaces for a month as part of stricter measures to curb a recent jump in coronavirus infections, it said on Friday, an announcement that sent locals racing to supermarkets to stock up on staples. The city-state has won international praise for its two-month long battle against a virus that has infected over a million people globally, avoiding lockdown measures increasingly common around the world. But authorities said record jumps in new infections this week, taking its total to 1,114 cases, pointed to the need for a tougher approach. Disease experts have said breaches in Singapore's lauded virus defence have underlined the challenge of containing the pandemic around the world.

Source: International New York Times April 03, 2020 07:55 UTC